Abstract: The present invention discloses a vault or casket having a customized design on its external surface. The invention also discloses a method for decorating the external surface of a vault or casket to produce such custom designed surface. In method ofthis invention, a substrate material is cut into panels that have shapes that correspond to the sections of the vault or casket surface. This substrate shape will enable the substrate panels to fit exactly over the corresponding surface sections. A custom design is digitally imaged onto the substrate panels. Each panel contains a portion of the overall design. The interior side of each substrate panel is provided with an adhesive material to affix the panels to the substrate surface. These substrate panels exhibiting portions of the overall design are applied sectionally to the substrate surface in a manner to provide a seamless image, thereby creating an external surface having a custom appearance.